Using guard dogs to protect livestock herds from predators like wolves is akin to using nature to fight nature. And that is something I can definitely get behind. It’s a way better idea than opting to shoot or trap or poison the predators; which has led to them being scarce across the landscape and has induced all sorts of trophic changes that altered entire eco-regions and systems. But what kind of dog works best to protect goats, sheep and cows? Surely not just any dog can face off with a bear or a wolf and convince the wild carnivore to turn back from a buffet of plump sheep or newborn-naive calves?

A new review paper searches the existing literature on livestock guard dogs and offers up some tried-and-true answers. The authors are two Wyoming sheep producers, and the review was funded by the Wyoming Wool Growers Association. It was published in the Sheep and Goat Research Journal (can’t say I’ve perused that one before!) which is backed by the American Sheep Industry Association. A sheep rancher, a livestock association — these are normally the entities you might see on the anti-predator side of a Notice of Intent to Sue letter threatening to petition to de-list an endangered carnivore, like wolves, from the Endangered Species Act. So I was pretty excited by the clearly progressive and forward-looking position taken in this paper, which is that carnivores are coming back, and big ones at that, so livestock producers need to up the ante and try using every tool at their disposal to protect their sheep, but to focus on tools that are non-lethal to the carnivores. <Wow. I’m kind of slack-jawed, I admit. And oh so hopeful that there is more common ground here than the mainstream media might have us believe.>

One of the problems posed by using livestock protection dogs, or guard dogs as I generally call them, is that they may die. And in general, if a rancher is making an investment in a pro-active method to protect her or his livestock, they want that investment to last. While you do have to acknowledge that the guard dog you put out there may die in a conflict with a bear or a wolf, you want to choose your dogs wisely and pick a breed that minimizes this risk. And for a wolf conservationists point of view, any sort of proactive method like this that prevents a livestock conflict or loss from occurring in the first place is a good thing, and a positive step toward livestock and wolves coexisting.

So the authors, C. and J. Urbigkit, looked beyond the U.S. to examine what kinds of dog breeds are used in other countries that still have a healthy suite of predators, or that have recently worked to restore them. The authors note that while using guard dogs in the Rocky Mountains of the U.S. is a relatively new fad correlated with the reintroduction of gray wolves and protection of grizzlies, pastoralists and producers in Europe and Asia have been successfully using them for centuries or more. The authors write:

Agricultural producers in the western United States have the highest reported economic losses due to wildlife damage, and those losses occur on the patchwork land ownership of public and private lands (Messmer 2009)… While some advocate the adoption of new strategies and approaches to address wildlife damage concerns (Messmer 2009), we advocate the adoption of ancient approaches for use in this new world of large-carnivore recovery.

Bravo Urbigkits, I couldn’t agree more. The Urbigkits begin by stating that in the U.S., the most popular breeds of guard dogs so far have been great pyrenees, akbash and komondor. They note that with the return of wolves to the landscape, the great pyrenees breeds have suffered greater numbers of casualties. Apparently these guard dogs can hold their own fairly well against bears, but they are not a good match for wolves. In fact, the authors report that 61 percent of the documented fatal wolf attacks on guard dogs between 1995 and 2004 in greater Yellowstone area of the Northern Rockies were great pyrenees. It’s truly unfortunate not only for the dogs, but for the ranchers who thought they were using the right kind of dog to guard their stock. So the authors turn their attention to countries where livestock producers and pastoralists have coexisted with bears and gray wolves for centuries, to see what might be learned from them.

They looked for breeds that could be imported to the U.S., were aggressive to other canines but not to humans, had larger body sizes and that originated in areas with large carnivores. The breeds highlighted as the best potential wolf-fighting dogs are: Central Asian ovcharkas (video), transmontano mastiffs (of Portugal), Karakachan dogs (ancient Balkan breed), Turkish kangals, and the shar planinetz (of Yugoslavia).

They also reviewed accessories to put on livestock guard dogs, and the iron spiked collar is apparently a favorite. It prevents a wolf from attacking the jugular of the guard dog, or otherwise trying to suffocate it by crushing the neck region. But the paper also raises questions about how to safely use these collars where woven metal and barbed-wire fences occur, and where there is dense brush. Clearly there is room for more research here, with performace data being sorely needed to prove the reliability of using guard dogs with spiked collars.

Other concerns that may need to be addressed are each breed’s attitudes toward meeting strange people. Because many ranchers in the West use federal or state lands to graze their livestock, lands with multiple purposes that often include recreation like hiking or ATV use, then it follows that any livestock guard dog used in these areas should have minimal aggression to people.

Their paper also gives an interesting snapshot of the natural history of guard dogs and the pastoralists and herders that bred them. I think this was a really nice touch, because it shows the relationship between these working people and their dogs. For example, the authors touch on how the spread of communism snuffed out certain livestock traditions:

The spread of communism in Europe and Asia brought with it an active campaign of collectivized agricultural policy, which worked to rid entireregions of its free people—the nomadic livestock cultures. Livestock and their guard dogs were killed or collectivized, and their nomadic herders and families were taken from the land (Gehring et al. 2010). When the herders became villagers, the cultures lost their old traditions (Ivanova 2009).

And as predators were hunted and persecuted out of existence in many areas, the need for livestock guard dogs plummeted while the demand for pet breeds rose. Some breeds, like ovcharkas, that were formerly used for guarding were bred instead for dog fighting in central Asia and Russia. These fights are unlike the Western tradition and the authors assert that these matches rarely produce serious injuries. Rather, the matches are used to test the dogs for traits that would bode well for livestock guarding: dominance display, agility, and physical strength. Dogs that won’t participate, cry out or show submissive signs are pulled from the matches and the contest is ended. But the winners may be used as breeders. It’s very unlike the dog fighting as blood sport that occurs here at home. “In LPD matches, the fights begin and end quickly, and the result is a determination of the best dogs to fight wolves.” While I can’t say I like the idea of dog fights at all, what the authors present does seem fairly humane and presents a good test for selecting the best dogs to be used as livestock guards. Guarding stock is a performance job, and it makes sense to use performance-based tests — in a strictly regulated and policed fashion — to test the merits of potential gene-contributors to the breed’s lineage.

I’m excited to see this kind of proactive applied-research being published by the sheep industry. As someone who wants to see both wolves and ranchers out on the landscape, I am very encouraged by this paper. I hope that conservation groups will help ranchers to either get access to these kinds of dog breeds or help to facilitate outreach messages about these findings.

NOTES:

C. Urbigkit, & J. Urbigkit (2010). A Review: The Use of Livestock Protection Dogs in Association with Large Carnivores in the Rocky Mountains Sheep and Goat Research, 25 (10), 1-8

I have not read that one yet, I’ll put it on my wish list (I think her name is Cat?). I hope that environmental groups read this paper. Looks like some funding needs to be put out (if no one has already) to measure effectiveness of certain breeds in the NRM wolf areas, and to come up with best management practices for employing guard dogs like this. If I were a rancher, I’d HATE to lose either an animal or a guard dog; I hope these breeds can work in the NRM and become a part of the ranching culture.

Delene,
Your account of Urbigkit’s article was interesting and accurate. My colleague, Dr. Cafer Tepeli, and I are cited in it – albeit the bibliography wrongly reports the work as being by “Tepeli and Tepeli” rather than by “Tepeli and Taylor.” I inadvertently found your blog when I found my photo (taken from a website) of our Akbash Dog pup. The link led to you. Let me provide you the source information for the photo. Photographer: Tamara Taylor, Patteran Akbash Dogs, http://www.akbashdogs.com.

Hello Tamara, Thanks for stopping by and for providing the credit information — I’ve updated the caption and linked it to the web site you provided. At first I thought you meant I had mis-cited your paper, but did you mean that the original Urbigkit paper mis-cited it? Because the PDF version that I have on record does list “Tepeli and Taylor” in the bibliography.

tim

Just a quick note. I’m all for LPDs. Obvious they are the way to go as the whole world should be moving towards more sustainable, less violent, mechanized, more holistic solutions. More reasonable, more civilized. You know, like wolves and bears who are far move civilized than people have been to the planet.

But there will be a few problems we will encounter. Biker chic got attacked and injured. Farmer dude’s stock gets decimated after he is forced to put down his LPDs in Colorado.

I just wondered how appropriate it is to use dog fighting as a way of assessing an individual’s ability to protect stock.
Ethical issues aside, when a dog fights a conspecific in a staged fight (i.e. away from its own territory), it’s fighting solely over status and is striving to obtain dominance. Such intraspecific competition is not what’s going on when a dog meets a predator that’s actively threatening it’s pack/herd (even if the predator is a canid). Selecting successful fighters may favour overall confidence and aggression, but it’s just as likely to diminish the breed’s ‘protective’ instinct as to enhance it.

Great point Lynda! I don’t have an answer. The dog matches were specifically set up to select for dogs that were good matches against wolves, was my understanding. What methods do you think would be good ones to test for protectiveness?

I agree with what you’re thinking. Encouraging all brawn and no brains will breed the protective instinct out of them, or at least water it down.

The best way to find the dogs most suitable to be LGDs and to be bred as such, is to observe them over time. The dogs who are keenly aware of their surroundings and willing to jump into a fight (only when required) are the ones whose gene pool should be expanded.

Our two year-old, half Anatolian Shepherd, half Great Pyrenees, has absolutely no interest in fighting other dogs, unless they are after his dams, his human family, or our livestock. He will, however, go coyote hunting outside of the fence from time-to-time. I guess he knows when its time to warn the packs that they are venturing too close.

DeLene,
A good question (which means I don’t know the answer!). I guess you’d have to assess their reaction to being threatened by something fierce (man in a gorilla suit??) within their home territory.
I used to have a Belgian shepherd who rushed out and chased off three elephants that wandered into the garden. Meanwhile one of my huskies sat and watched, saucer-eyed, while the other let out a heart-rendering yelp and fled under the bed (a reaction I could sympathise with).

I guess when it comes to a test, the canine on canine match test is probably the best thing (in theory) for now, even though the dominance versus protectiveness is not tested directly, as you point out.

Jennifer

I enjoyed your post. I found your article in my search for wolf and dog encounters and predation, we have recently had wolf issues where I live, in the area of Vancouver Island British Columbia. I have 2 Rottweiler/Black lab crosses who have fended off bears and cougars without issue, however wolves seem to be their “match”. We live remotely and have 33 acres of land surrounded by wild crown land so it’s to be expected that we will run into wild life out here. Last night a pack came in an tried to take down our dogs, within 20 feet of our house. One of our dogs is injured, a wolf obviously bit his hind quarters and tried to take him down. My husband caught them in the beam of his spot light, which was enough to scare them off. They were here 10 days prior without incident but we could hear them howling all around us. They left scat all over a trail going to the north of the house …as though marking their territory. Recently a pack of wolves attacked and gravely injured a neighbors dog who is a Rhodesian Ridge-back and then later came back and killed another of their dogs, a Newfoundlander. They simply killed the dog, not as a means for food. There was a very good article recently in the National Geographic Magazine about wolves and how their numbers have greatly rebounded in the U.S. People like myself and farmers, ranchers etc should have the right to deal with problem animals even if they once were on the endangered species list.

Jennifer, I am very sorry to hear about your injured pets. Due to the repeated instances of wolf encounters on your property and your neighbor’s, I wonder if a pack has recently established their territory and your property resides within it? Wolves will aggressively attack other canids within their territory, that is true, and it is not for food. It’s part of their behavior for establishing a territory. If the wolf bit your dog’s hindquarters, I wonder if your dog was trying to get away. Unfortunately, pets and livestock continue to be the biggest areas of conflict between wolves and people. Are you able to bring your dogs inside at night (when wolves would be more active), or shelter them somewhere? When I contacted Cat (an author of the study I blogged about here) I found her to be very knowledgeable about this guard dog issues… maybe she can give you some tips for protecting your pets? (I’ve been to Vancouver Island, we visited there two summers ago and backpacked in Strathcona; it was so beautiful.)

Jennifer

HI again, Our dogs are outside dogs, but they do have a safe warm dog house on the porch and I can tie them up at night if need be, which I think I will be doing until we can better determine the wolves behaviors. We got our dogs to help protect and alert us to predators as I have 4 children and I worry about cougars. We have lived here for 8 years and only had 3 instances of wolves right around the house that I am aware of – cougars are our main predator issue they frequently come around in all season. It seems that these wolves have a circuit that they travel and seem to come back every 10 days or so, so we will be ready and hopefully all of us will be more aware of them and their capabilities now.
Cheers
Jennifer

IV

Nice article. I would like to add that I own 4 Kangals for protecting my livestock. But in reality LGD’s are useless to most ranchers. These dogs love to roam. So I have to fence them in with my livestock, that means very expensive electric fencing that is a maintenance nightmare. Most sheep and cattle ranches can’t possibly have this type of setup. Size and cost restrictions. The only other option is to be with your stock and dogs 24/7 to make sure the dogs don’t find somewhere else to be. That’s not an option either in this day and age of hot showers and warm beds, not to mention spending time with your wife and kids. Even so, if you could find a way to actually have these dogs for a big operation(mine is small) eventually without actually killing, trapping, shooting, “murdering” some wolves they would out number your dogs. Yes my dogs will scare off a lone wolf maybe even 2 or 3 at most. But if a wolf pack like they have in yellowstone (10-20wolves) comes by my dogs will be…..destroyed, along with all of my livestock pets. Without hunting the wolves will eventually grow unchecked to huge pack sizes like those. These dogs are just like a seatbelt or a backup signal, they will only help some not solve the problem. To solve the problem wolves will actually have to be shot down. Thats where a hunting season with a wolf numbers management plan comes into play. This would create revenue for the states. Or we could do the same thing except charge everybody millions in taxes to pay for the state game officers to do the same thing. The wolves are getting out of control in most areas and no amount of LGD’s will ever fix that. Yes wolves have a right to be here just like myself and my cattle. But we need a balance that only paying hunters or higher taxes and high dollar charging state workers bring us. Here is a link to what will happen when the wolves stay on the ESA. So sad that this girl had to be destroyed by something that could have been avoided. These extremist wolfhuggers will never understand until its their daughter or wife that gets eaten….but then it will be too late!http://www.brokencountry.com/index.php/2010/03/13/candice-berner-teacher-alaskan-teacher-killed-by-wolves/

Side note, the great pyrenees have the highest number of being killed by wolves simply because they are the most prominent LGD’s. I picked kangals because their coats are still very warm but very short to ease cleaning, and because they are great around kids and people. Unfortunately they are very rare outside of Turkey. Some of the other LGD’s are bad choices because they can be people aggressive. But any dog can be if it’s not socialized with people. An obvious problem for a working dog living in the country.

Btw the wolves that “manage” the elk numbers in my region have eaten enough to bring our elk tag numbers from the objective of 150 to 0 in less than 4 years. Guess who they will be eating next?

Last thought: No game animal has ever gone extinct that was under state management, believe it or not they do the best they can for all parties involved.

michele

the wolves are just doing what they innately do to survive. you have no right to kill them because you havent figured out how to build a barrier to keep them out. it’s their land and they were here first. believe it or not they are complex sentient beings with rights.

Sam 01

Sam, this post recaps a published article on livestock guard dogs. I can’t answer for the researchers why they did not investigate the maremma sheepdog. However, they did have certain criteria they were looking for in the dog breeds they investigated, and it’s possible the maremma did not meet all of their qualifications. If you have any links to information about this breed, please feel free to share them here. Thank you.

Howard Wilkinson

Unfortunately the fact remains that predators MUST be controlled. The use of guard animals is necessary, but does not eliminate the need for control. The idea that large predators can be allowed to coexist with humanity without their population being controlled and without forcing them to remain outside the bounds of civilization is a complete fantasy. They MUST eat, and will take what prey they can. That’s a fact of life. That prey of course includes the “normal” prey species, but as they encroach on more civilized areas it will include livestock, pets, and even humans. This isn’t a made for children Disney movie, it’s reality. The only way to keep large predators in the wild lands where they belong is to hunt them, and instill fear and respect of mankind. The idea of humans co-existing with free roaming populations of wolves, lions, and bears is the stuff of purest fantasy!!

I read this nice article quite late only because it has become relevant again after shooting of the most famous alpha female wolf of Yellowstone National Park.

To respond to Sam 01, Sheep Vegetation Management Group from BC reports that they use a combination of Great Pyrenees, Hungarian Kuvaszok and Italian Maremmas for protecting their sheep mostly from grizzlies and black bears, but also from wolves.

I tend to agree with IV and Howard above on controlled hunting, but recent harvesting of Yellowstone wolves in Wyoming suggests that hunters have taken a heavy toll of collared animals. I attribute it to their using electronic signals to advantage. Although I agree with controlled hunting, unfortunately, due to unethical hunters, who far outnumber ethical ones, I am against allowing hunting on a larger scale.

If hunters can’t behave ethically, they shouldn’t get any concessions.

Jimmy

In a warm climate the dogo argentino would be a very steep speed bump for a wolf.In Cold places like Montana,try the uncivilized russian flock guard breeds.Just remember that to take on a pack of wolves you need a pack of big,fast,aggressive,highly dominant dogs.Example Mid Asian Shepard.I named the dogo argentino above because recently a dogo killed a full grown cougar to save children.

Jimmy

Jimmy

I thought that the dogo/cougar incident was recent,but,it was in 2008.Dogs 101’s video on the dogo argentino tells the whole story.Two little girls picking figs from a fig tree,one looked up and saw a cougar in the tree.She ran,the dogo intercepted the mountain lion.The girl’s father came running.When he got there Morocho was lying down wounded.Nearby was the dead cougar.Not many dogs can handle a mountain lion.

Steve Kovacs

One of the problems with using LPD’s in this country is that we dont study how they are used well enough in their countries of origin. LPD’s, or LGD’s. One video interviewing an old shepherd in the Caucus mountain region, for example. He explained that over 90 percent of the time there is no “fight” between the wolves and the dogs. It is the presence of the dogs, their threat, that causes the wolves to go elsewhere. That’s correct usage and consistent description of how wolves work, and how using LGD’s works. Nothing to do with what one dog will or wont fight a wolf. No one dog fights a timber wolf. Multiple dogs do. And the wolf does not engage in a fight he does not think he can win. So obviously, size, and numbers, makes the difference. The best fight is the one not had. The wolf know that. So do effective LGD’s.

So essentially important: They use what we’d consider large numbers of LGD’s. You dont see one or two. You see five or ten. Or more. Depending on the size of the flock, the terrain, and the number and nature of predator pressure. In Australia, where they know a little about sheep. You can read about 50 thousand acre operations with tens of thousands of sheep. And multiple LGD stations with 20 or more dogs at each. (all without the kind of fencing one commenter complained about).

You can also read about the return of the large wolves in Northern Europe. And how they are successfully co existing with livestock farming operations. Through the proper use of LGD’s.

You have to ask if they can do it. If historically, with similar predator and pressure, wolf losses were controlled elsewhere using LGD’s properly. Why can’t that be done in the US.

If you really look at how the LGD is used, effectively, elsewhere in the world you start to see answers to a lot of questions, objections, and “reports”. If the LGD is 90 percent of the time a deterrent. In sufficient numbers. Then “dog fighting” to prove what one dog will fight a wolf, is obviously pointless. Give some thought to any one dog fighting a timber wolf, and the likelihood of that one dog “winning” has to be low. If you look more closely at those situations where they are fighting dogs. You find that they breed those dogs for the fight. Not for their full LGD nature. Then that good fighting dog” is going to engage the wolf when it should not. And singly. That’s not a good LGD!! And those people that are doing that? They are not the shepherds of old, or where the origins of the breeds took place. In the case of the Ovcharka, in many instances all the best dogs were taken out of their home countries. Leaving non Ovcharkas, or the least quality examples. And then those were bred to outside breeds. One example is breeding them to GSD’s to gain greater speed or ground cover. So actually, while the fighting to test is “explained” and justified away. It is an inaccurate process and measure. Done by people often who are not dealing with the original threat to livestock the breeds were evolved to deal with. That is not a good reference point to work from.

While I applaud doing more research into the use of LGD’s. And I hope here in the US we make the effort to use these dogs properly. We need to cut through some of our own assumptions and look more closely at how to use these breeds. And which breeds. We need to cut through the myth, and the noise, to find the better information about the breeds and how to use them. I think this post, and that article, are a good starting point. Both for some correct information, and for incorrect information that can be discussed and lead to better results.

kutlu

Good text. I havent seen other breed against wolves but with iron spiked turkish kangal shepherd chase wolves and strong enough for crush on the floor but wolves feet nails very sharp and can damage massive.kangals are fearless anyway need a group for fighting wolves group.a strong good cared alpha male kangal can break a normal wolf but also with a strong alpha wolf result will fatal for oneside other side probably will be permanently injured